Cour des Voraces, the spectacular traboule
The Cour des Voraces is a Lyon courtyard famous for its monumental six-storey façade staircase. This striking traboule links 9 Place Colbert with 14 Montée Saint-Sébastien and 29 Rue Imbert-Colomès, on the slopes of the Croix-Rousse. Built around 1840 and listed as a historic monument, it is one of Lyon's best-known traboules.
A monumental façade staircase
What strikes you at once is the façade staircase climbing six storeys at the heart of the courtyard. This spectacular structure made the site famous and remains the image one keeps of the Cour des Voraces. You discover it on entering the courtyard, your eye drawn upward by its stacked flights.
Walking a true traboule
The Cour des Voraces is a traboule, one of those covered passages typical of Lyon that cut through buildings from one street to the next. This one links 9 Place Colbert with 14 Montée Saint-Sébastien and 29 Rue Imbert-Colomès. Walking it means experiencing a way of moving unique to the city, between inner courtyards and tangled staircases.
On the slopes of Croix-Rousse
The courtyard lies in the slopes district of the Croix-Rousse, an area closely tied to the history of the canuts, the silk workers. Built around 1840 and listed as a historic monument, it fits into a traboule walk done on foot, up and down the alleys of this flank of Lyon.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Cour des Voraces?
A courtyard building on the slopes of the Croix-Rousse, famous for its six-storey façade staircase and for being a traboule.
Where do you enter?
The entrances are at 9 Place Colbert, 14 Montée Saint-Sébastien and 29 Rue Imbert-Colomès.
Can it be visited freely?
Traboules pass through lived-in buildings: you should walk them quietly and discreetly, within the passages' opening hours.
What to combine the visit with?
With a walk among the other traboules of the Croix-Rousse slopes, done on foot straight afterwards.
Wikimedia Commons — Thierry de Villepin · Wikimedia Commons — Romainbehar
